The completion of the development phase of the Wii U title Hyrule Warriors was officially announced on Thursday, July 31st, at the Laforet Museum Roppongi in Tokyo. Hyrule Warriors is a collaborative title, fusing Nintendo’s “Legend of Zelda” series, popular worldwide for over 25 years, with Koei Tecmo’s “Warriors” series, which continues to evolve through new iterations centered round the theme of the thrill of one warrior versus a thousand.

In his introductory comments, Yoichi Erikawa, President and CEO of Koei Tecmo Games, remarked “the Hyrule Warriors project began three years ago, when I paid a visit to Mr. Miyamoto of Nintendo, and I am delighted to see it come to fruition here today.” The title’s producer, Hisashi Koinuma, then spoke of the passion he injected into the development of the project, before introducing the title’s soon-to-be-released television commercial.

◆YouTube footage (currently available)
http://youtu.be/tTvSOtpV7Lk
The television commercial previewed at the announcement party. It will be screened on Japanese television from August 7th.

Representing Nintendo, developers and publishers of the game’s platform, “Wii U,” was the father of the “Legend of Zelda” series himself, Shigeru Miyamoto. He gave his seal of approval to Hyrule Warriors as a title which will allow players to fully appreciate the new, user-friendly features of the Wii U.

The title’s development producer, Yosuke Hayashi, and Eiji Aonuma of Nintendo, supervisor on Hyrule Warriors, then took the stage and explained the basic content of the game. They introduced the story, stages and characters, all of which embody the game’s fundamental concept: the thrill of one warrior versus a thousand in the world of Zelda.

1997
The “Treasure Box”, a special version of the game released in Japan at the same time as the standard edition, and featuring a wide variety of special bonus goods.

Eiji Aonuma, who has been heavily involved in the “Legend of Zelda” series, noted “I found myself looking forward in anticipation to each development update, as new and unexpected features would always be added... The members of the Koei Tecmo development team are all Zelda fans, and I really felt that the game was being made from the perspective of those who grew up with the franchise. I believe that Zelda fans should find plenty to enjoy in this title,” he added.

1998
Shigeru Miyamoto (2nd from right), who oversaw development of this “Zelda game with a focus on action.”

Hyrule Warriors (Wii U) release dates:
Japan: August 14th, 2014
Europe: September 19th, 2014
North America: September 26th, 2014
http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/zelda/ (site in Japanese)
*Hyrule Warriors will be published by Nintendo of America for its North American release.
*Hyrule Warriors will be published by Nintendo of Europe for its European release.

*All company names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.